


Looking Kinda Sus

by Katieykat513



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Among Us AU, F/M, Identity Reveal, Virtual Reality, minor depictions of murder, they are playing among us in virtual reality, virtual murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-09 01:54:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 15,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27266794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Katieykat513/pseuds/Katieykat513
Summary: When Max created a murder mystery game on his virtual reality platform, he knew he needed his friends' help testing it out. What he did not know was how much closer it would bring Adrien and Marinette.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Alya Césaire/Nino Lahiffe
Comments: 141
Kudos: 330





	1. Let The Game Begin

**Author's Note:**

> This has been way too much fun to write. I played Among Us for the first time about a month and a half ago and got impostor like five times in a row....needless to say I was murder happy. And then I thought...I bet Marinette would be a stone cold killer, too, with how competitive she is at video games. Then I was like, gasp! What if Max made Among Us but virtual reality. And so this was born. I hope I don't leave too many people hanging. There are three chapters written already and I was like, yeah let me post this. So I hope you all enjoy this super fun Among Us au. I was not too descriptive on the murders but if you have played the game...you get it.  
> Enjoy!!!

Max looked around the room at his friends. They all sat in his huge gaming room his mom set aside just for him to set up his new virtual reality tech. They sat around on a huge semi-circular couch. Mylene sat on the end, nestled up to Ivan. Ivan was next to Kim who was having a thumb war with Alix. Nathaniel and Marc sat next to her going over their latest story. Marinette sat next to them giggling at cat videos Adrien was showing her on his phone. Nino had his arms around Alya’s shoulders and was whispering something into her ear, whatever it was it caused an evil gleam in her eye and a smirk on her face. Rose sat next to Juleka, talking to her with her hands going up in the air, while Luka smiled softly at his sister and her girlfriend. 

Max rubbed his hands together,  _ Oh yes. This is the perfect group to test my new technology. _ He cleared his throat, yet no one responded. He rolled his eyes and gestured to Markov, who executed his whistle program. The group stopped talking to cover their ears. 

“Thank you, Markov.” Max nodded to his friend.

“You are most welcome, Max!”

“My friends! Welcome to the first ever experience of Max Kante’s Virtual Reality! It is with great honor that you have gifted me with your assistance to test out my game. I have been through a simulation on multiple occasions, so I am confident there will be no harm to any of you.” 

The group clapped softly at their friend. He held up his hand, his friends stopped clapping, and he adjusted his glasses before placing his hand behind his back with the other. 

“Now I am positive that most of you are eager to get into virtual reality, but we need to go over some rules first. I have twelve headsets, but I was already under the impression that Rose and Mylene would not be participating due to the nature of the game.” Rose and Mylene both nodded. “Excellent. Then there will be a sufficient amount of headsets.” 

He approached the table which housed the headsets, each nestled into a foam cushion. He grabbed one and brought it to the group. He handed out the headsets as he continued to explain what to expect of his game.

“Do not put these on quite yet, we will do it all at the same time. When you do put them on we will all be transported into the digital world. Everyone will land in a room together and the game will begin. Once the game begins, you will have a digital screen on your forearm that only you can read. The screen will identify you as a Crewmate or an Impostor. It will then tell you the tasks you need to complete and where they are located on the ship. Each person has a set number of tasks to complete around the ship. The display will have menus to activate the map, and in the Impostor’s case, a map to sabotage different areas of the ship. All screens will have a report button if you discover a body, and all screens will have a use button for certain tasks which call for it. It will illuminate when you encounter these scenarios. You will not be able to communicate with each other over comms, however if you are in the same vicinity you may speak to one another.”

The group looked on in awe and confusion at the details Max was describing for his game. 

“As for the objective of the game. If the Impostor kills everyone without getting ejected into the vast vacuum of space, then the Impostor is victorious. If the Crewmates complete their tasks before the Imposter can kill everyone, then the Crewmates will be victorious. The Impostor can sabotage certain areas of the ship which can also cause the Crewmates to be defeated if not addressed in a timely manner. The display will tell you when these events occur. If on your mission, you encounter a dead body, you press the report button, and you will automatically be digitally transported to the original spawn point, which in this case is the Cafeteria. There is also an emergency meeting button located in the Cafeteria which you can utilize only once, if you suspect a person of being an Impostor. We then take two minutes to discuss amongst ourselves what was observed and whether you suspect another person of the misdeed. Majority votes will eject the suspected person, and let us hope we eject the Impostor and not a fellow Crewmate. People who are dead can converse amongst themselves and still achieve their tasks, which I advise you do, so the Crewmates can win, but they can not participate in the group discussion.” Max paused for dramatic effect. “May we find the Impostor, among us.”

There was a brief silence in the room.

“So. Any questions, or shall we commence with the simulation?”

Everyone looked around at each other and looked to their headset, shrugging before saying no and putting the headsets over their eyes. Everyone saw a black screen with the words “please wait” in the middle of the display. 

“Alright then. We shall do one experimental round to get everyone acclimated to the map and to the idea of the game as a whole. Following the conclusion of the first round, we will attempt a longer campaign with increased quantities of tasks.”

Max watched his friends adjust the straps on the headsets that covered their eyes. “Mylene. Rose. The screen behind me will display what is happening in the game, you should be able to zoom the map in on individual players to receive a more detailed perspective.” The girls both nodded their heads in confirmation. 

“Very well. Everyone appears prepared. Let us commence.” 

He sat down in a chair near his computer, adjusted his headset, and turned to Markov. “Alright buddy, put us in.”

Markov pressed the button and Mylene and Rose watched as their friends around them went mostly limp. Their bodies still upright but their arms went limp at their sides. Mylene waved her hands in front of Ivan’s face and poked his shoulder.

“They seem pretty out of it. Alright! Quick, Rose, put Marinette’s and Adrien’s hands together!” Mylene said excitedly.

Rose squealed and bounced out of her seat to Marinette and placed Marinette’s hand over Adrien’s. What she was not expecting was for their hands to grasp each other tightly. Mylene and Rose both squealed loudly.

“Girls. As glad as I am that they unconsciously know they are made for each other, the game is starting.” Markov interrupted. 

The girls giggled before turning to the screen where they observed their friends all together in one small room with chairs. 

************

The group of friends digitally appeared in a small room in the same positions they left the real world in. They all sat in chairs you would see in a subway, except they were all wearing form fitting space suits and what appeared to be an invisible field around their head to provide them with the game’s digital oxygen. 

Marinette looked down at her hands and noticed her suit was red with black seams.  _ Great. Ladybug colors. Of course. Couldn’t have been any of these other colors.  _ She thought as she looked around at her friends where they all seemed to be sporting a different color. 

A gasp to her left snapped her out of her thoughts. “Look! Marinette! I got Chat Noir’s colors! Do you think I get his powers, too!?” He stood to show off his form fitting space suit that was black with bright green seams. In fact, his butt in that suit almost looked identical to her partners, but she was not going to think about either of their butts right now, or the fact that she admires both of them; she had a game to win. 

“Very observant, Adrien.” Max stood up, going to stand in front of the group, his suit completely black. “While yes, I based the suit colors on those of our beloved heroes, they do not possess their miraculous power.” He pointed to a small laptop in the center of the room. “You may change the color there if you wish, however, there are not many remaining, as most are utilized by our friends.” He gestured to the other people in the room. 

Nino had on a dark green suit with a lighter green seam. He stood next to Alya, trying to show off his muscles in the form fitting suit. Her suit was orange with white seams. Marinette shook her head as she looked around at the rest of her friends, all sporting their superhero colors, wondering if Max knew something he was not telling her or if this was all just a coincidence. She looked back over to Adrien, in her partners colors,  _ Nope. Not even going there.  _

Marinette shook her head and observed the rest of her friends. Alix in her light blue with white seams. Luka wearing teal and with a darker teal for the seams. Kim jumped around wearing light brown with dark brown seams. Ivan just had yellow with black seams. Juleka’s was purple with light purple seams, Nathaniel had a darker blue with black seams and Marc had red with white seams.

“Listen, everyone!” Max boomed, clearly louder in virtual reality than in real life. “Once I hit the button on the computer everything will be radio silence and once you disperse from the central meeting area, you will only be able to communicate with anyone in hearing range. Remember to look at your display for information on tasks. Ghosts can still sabotage and perform tasks. And have fun.”

Everyone stood and gave max a determined looked. Marinette subtly looked around at her friends,  _ Miraculous Team indeed.  _

“Three...Two...One.”

Another digital transportation and Marinette found herself in a cafeteria, with her friends all surrounding a round table, which housed an emergency button. She felt a tingle on her left arm and pressed a flashing button on her arm. A digital screen popped up with the word “crewmate,” and she sighed.  _ Well at least I will have a chance to learn the game instead of killing. _

The word shrunk to the bottom and her tasks popped up on the screen. She needed to fix some wiring in Electrical. She brought up the map and noticed that Electrical was below and to the left of her current location. All she had to do was run through storage to get there. She watched her friends look and mess with their arm computers and start to run off. 

She took off south toward storage, passing a doorway on her left that her map labeled Admin, she entered a room with a large stack of boxes, one of them seemed to want to defy gravity. She wondered if that was on purpose or if Max needed to fix that. She stopped, looked down at her map when a red light started flashing around her and an alarm started to blare. Her Ladybug instinct kicked in and she got in her fight mode. 

“Easy there,  _ Ladybug _ .” A familiar voice said behind her. 

Marinette went stiff, her heart rate increased as she quickly turned around to see someone sauntering toward her. She had to double take. She thought it was Chat Noir coming out of the darkness, but as he loomed closer, she realized it was Adrien. She shook her head.  _ Stop thinking about it! _

“Adrien! You scared me!” She relaxed, but only a little. She needed to figure out what the alerts meant. She felt a tingle at her arm and looked at her display. It flashed “emergency: O2 depleting” and had a countdown next to it. She pulled her map up and noticed two arrows pointing to a place in Admin and one at place on the right side of the ship called O2. She looked up at Adrien, as he looked up at Marinette. Their eyes went wide as she started to go for the closest panel, which was the one behind Adrien.

He turned around as she reached him and they both ran into Admin and noticed a slight glow coming from a panel on the other side of the computers. They approached it and noticed that there was a sticky note next to the keypad. Marinette grabbed the sticky note and showed it to Adrien as he quickly typed in the five digit code before pressing the green enter button. 

The alarm and red lights stopped and Adrien and Marinette looked at each other, relieved. 

“Well, everyday Ladybug, we make a pretty good team don’t we?” Adrien smirked down at her. 

She looked him up and down, wondering why he was being so cheeky. “Ladybug, huh?” 

He blushed a little, interesting in virtual reality, and rubbed the back of his neck. “Well yeah. It has been your nickname for two years, and well...you are wearing her colors. So, you know...codenames.”

She looked at him skeptically, “Well, if that’s the case,  _ everyday Chat Noir, _ shall we get back to our tasks since the emergency seems to be over?” She gestured to the doorway. 

He perked up. “Sure. What do you have to do? I actually have a task in this room. Want to travel together? We can watch each other’s backs!” 

She looked at him skeptically again, not sure if he was truly a Crewmate or if he was the Impostor. She decided to trust him, for now. “Alright. What do you have to do?”

He pointed to a control panel behind them. “Looks like I need to swipe some sort of card over there.” He walked over to the end of the table and looked around. “I don’t see a card.” 

“Check your pockets. Maybe there is something in them.”

He looked down at his body, patting it down, not seeing or feeling any noticeable bulge in the skin tight suit. He unzipped a pocket and reached inside. “Woah! There’s a wallet in here! The digital world is crazy!” Marinette giggled at his enthusiasm and he grinned at her. “Alright. Let’s see, all I have to do is slide the card.” He slid the card and an error message popped up on the screen. “Error?!”

“Try again. Maybe slower?” Marinette suggested. 

He slid the card slower and it read a different error message. “No! It says it’s too slow, now!” He tried again and again, getting flustered the longer he tried. “Why won’t this stupid thing go!”

“Uhh. Everything ok in here?” A voice said from the doorway. 

Marinette and Adrien jumped at the voice, took fighting stances, and looked toward the doorway. Nathaniel jumped and put his hands up over his head. 

“Woah! Woah! Stand down guys. I’m not the Impostor. I’m just here to do whatever these tasks are.” Nathaniel walked into the room slowly, sticking close to the wall. 

“That sounds like something an Impostor would say, right my lady.” Adrien said, not realizing what he said. Marinette jumped and stared at Adrien like he was the Impostor. 

“Uhh...yeah...yes! That is...is what an Impostor would say!” She stuttered out, giving Adrien a funny look as she looked back to Nathaniel. “What is this task you have to complete here?” She spoke in a firmer voice. 

Nathaniel looked between his friends. “You guys know it’s just a task oriented game, right? We don’t get fighting skills. And I’m only here to fix some wires, if you must know.” 

Marinette and Adrien relaxed as they watched Nathaniel walk over to a weird looking panel with, what appeared, to have a wifi signal on it. He ignored the other two as they looked at each other and shrugged. 

Marinette gestured to the computer for Adrien to go back to his task. He nodded his head, knowing what she was instructing without using words, and went back to doing his task. He swiped the card a few more times and he finally got it. 

“Finally!” Marinette jumped in surprise next to him at his exclamation. Nathaniel stared at them with colored wires twisted around his hand, his eyebrow raised. “Sorry, didn’t mean to be so loud. It’s...it’s really difficult.” Adrien pointed to the card reader. 

Nathaniel went back to his wires and Marinette shook her head at Adrien. She grabbed Adrien’s hand. “Come on, Adrien. We can do my task next.” They both blushed at the hand-holding but Adrien followed dutifully. 


	2. Romance In The Cafeteria

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just couldn't wait XD

Adrien and Marinette walked by Nathaniel and back out into the hallway outside of Admin. Marinette let go of Adrien’s hand and looked at her digital screen. She looked right, the darkness of the Cafeteria, from where they started, stared back. She looked left and noticed that was the direction she needed to go. She gestured to the left, and they were on the move, Adrien barely separating from her side. They walked through the doorway Marinette was in before the emergency and walked into the room, making their way around the stack of boxes.

“Where are we headed?” Adrien leaned down and whispered into her ear. 

“To Electrical. Apparently I need to do some rewiring.” She answered, focusing on moving forward and scanning her surroundings for Impostors. Suddenly the remaining emergency lights lit on the ship went down, plunging the ship into darkness. Adrien and Marinette immediately stopped moving, synchronized, and ready to fight. “What now?”

“Seems like someone, the Impostor I assume, tampered with the lights.” Adrien looked down at his arm and saw a red flashing light on the map, labeled Electrical. “Looks like we are headed to Electrical anyway.” His chest touched her back and they both reached out for the wall. 

“At least we were close to the wall when the lights went out. I doubt Max calibrated for your night vision.” She said off-handedly, as she concentrated moving one foot in front of the other. 

“What?!” Adrien whispered, a higher pitch than before. 

“What?! What is it? Is it the Impostor? I can’t see anything!” Marinette screeched and jumped around to face Adrien. They both looked into each other's eyes, the faint glow from their digital screens enough to see. They froze, lost in each other’s gaze, their virtual breaths mingled together as Adrien leaned his head down to rest his forehead on Marinette’s. A whispered, “my lady,” over her lips, when they suddenly became digitized again and found themselves standing around the Cafeteria table, minus three people. They blinked and looked around, their faces red as they stared at each other from across the table. 

“It appears the Impostor has been quite busy.” Max stated, calling the table to order. “I am ecstatic they are enjoying themselves, but now we must figure out amongst ourselves...which one among us is the Impostor.” 

The room erupted into chaos. Everyone started to speak over each other. 

“Quiet. Everyone. Please.” Max yelled over them. They quieted down and looked at Max. “Now the report alarm was triggered by Marc. Marc, what are you reporting?”

Marc looked shyly around everyone, not used to being around so many of Nathaniel’s and Marinette’s friends. “Um. I was walking along the wall in the place with the boxes, heading toward something that said ‘card swipe.’ I walked into the room and I saw Nathaniel’s body hit the ground and I looked up right as the lights went off and saw the person wearing teal, which I see now is Luka, drop down into the floor somehow. I shook Nathaniel but he wasn’t responding, and I saw the report button light up on my arm and I hit it and here we are.” 

Gasps and murmurs were heard around the table as people pointed fingers at Luka. 

“Thank you for your intel, Marc. What you are referring to is called ‘venting.’ It is a mechanic I invented for the Impostor to maneuver around the map easier than the Crewmates.” Max turned to Luka. “Do you have anything in defense, Luka?”

“That’s not what happened, Marc. I think you might have me confused with Adrien. His green and black could easily be confused with teal in this lighting. I was in some random hallway running in circles. I bet it was Adrien, look, his face is red, he knows he’s caught.” Luka pointed to Adrien who was still frozen, but Marinette snapped out of it faster. 

“It couldn’t have been Adrien!” Marinette exclaimed. Everyone looked at her. “Well, Adrien and I have been alone together since the beginning of the game.” Gasps and stifled squeals were heard from across the table where Alya and Nino looked at each other with glee. “Shut it!” Marinette glared at them. “But Adrien never killed me! He swiped his card, Nathaniel walked into Admin when Adrien and I were there, and he did something with the wires and we walked into the room south of that. We were walking along the wall when the lights went out and we were right on top of each other the whole time. I almost kissed him!” She finished her rant, face red, as she looked around, daring anyone to challenge her. 

Alya was across the table hopping next to Nino, gripping his arm tight. “Niiinnoooo! It’s happening!!” She squealed. 

“Alya. Please contain your squeals until we have completed the game. We are here to discuss the fact that three of our Crewmates are dead and there is an Impostor among us, not the fact that Adrien seems to have wisened up.” Max interrupted her excitement. 

“You know.” Kim piped in. “I think Marinette is just covering for Adrien. There’s no way she would have had the galls to kiss Adrien after this many years of trying.” He leaned over the table and squinted his eyes at Marinette, “That’s pretty sus, don’t you think?”

Adrien’s face turned redder with every comment. He was finally able to interpret the situation correctly, after all these years of his friends speaking in code around him. Marinette loved him. 

“Kim!” Marinette screeched, her face flaring red. “That is not a thing! I am defending him because he is innocent! The only person he has murdered... is me!” She smacked both hands over her mouth as Adrien made sounds of air leaking from an oxygen canister. 

Max adjusted his glasses and pointed to his arm’s digital display. “I do not believe we will get an answer from Adrien. Juleka. Ivan. Have either of you two seen anything?” 

Ivan shook his head “no” and Juleka mumbled something while shaking her head.

“Very well. Now we vote. On your digital displays is a screen with the crew log. Choose who you believe is the Impostor. You also have the option to skip if you feel insufficient information was provided.” Max informed them. 

Everyone around the table looked at their left arm and the room fell silent. The sounds of beeping filled the room as one by one, everyone cast their vote. 

“Now, if you would all look to the wall.” Max pointed to the wall next to the hallway to Admin, where a monitor appeared with everyone’s avatar on it. Smaller avatars started to pop up in various spots next to names and some in a blank spot next to the word “skip.” 

“As you can see this is where votes are tallied and determine the fate of any one of us.” 

The gang gathered around the monitor, Adrien finding his way to stand next to Marinette, and looked it over. Luka had voted for Adrien. Marc and Adrien voted for Luka. The rest of them voted to skip. The screen changed to show the stars and informed the team that no one was ejected. 

Max looked at his friends. “It appears the Impostor is still among us. Back to tasks. Oh. I probably should mention, there are probably two Impostors.” 

The ship was plunged into darkness again as the game resumed. Everyone scrambled in different directions, knocking into each other and the tables. Marinette felt strong, familiar arms wrap around her body as someone knocked into her again, only catching a glimpse of orange as they raced past. The two stood in a tight embrace as the commotion died down, but Adrien did not release her. 

Marinette looked up at Adrien, her face red. “Um. Adrien. You can let go now.” He squeezed tighter. 

“What if I don’t want to.” He rested his head on hers and started rubbing his cheek along her hair. “I just found you, I don’t care what tasks we have. Just. Let me have this. Please.” 

She huffed and relented, wrapping her arms around his waist. “Alright you overgrown cat, you get thirty seconds. Then back to the game.” 

If possible, he wrapped his arms tighter around her shoulders as the lights clicked back on. The Cafeteria was brighter but they still could not see past the tables. Adrien lifted his head up off of Marinette’s and looked down at her as she looked up at him. Their eyes met and she could swear she saw literal hearts in his eyes as he softly smiled at her. Her face burned brighter, she brought her finger up to his nose and pushed, his hold around her shoulders breaking as she pushed him back.

“Later, you naughty kitty. We have a game to win.” She let go of his face and tapped a button on her display. “Ok. It says here Med Bay is that way.” She pointed behind Adrien. “And I have to do something called ‘submit scan.’” She looked back up to him staring at her. His cheeks pink and his eyes loving. “Adrien!”

He jumped at her voice and shook his head. “Terribly sorry! I got lost in your eyes! What are we doing?”

She smiled at him and shook her head fondly. “We are doing tasks. Do you have anything in Med Bay?”

He looked down to his arm and pulled up his display, concentrated for a second and looked up at Marinette. “I have a ‘submit scan’ task.”

“Perfect!” She exclaimed, grabbing his arm and leading him toward Med Bay. “We can both get whatever this task is done at the same time!”

Adrien grinned as he was dragged down the hallway. Marinette was his lady and this was the best day of his life. She dragged them into a room lined with two beds on each side, but before they made it completely into the room, Adrien stopped her. 

“What is it?!” She demanded, looking as far as she could see down the hallway. 

Adrien pointed up in the direction from where they had come. “There is a camera there. It has a red light flashing. Think someone is watching us?” 

Marinette looked at the camera and squinted at it before rolling her eyes. “No doubt Alya, trying to catch us on camera.” She dragged him into the room as he looked at her in confusion. 

“Why you, specifically?” He inquired. They walked by a row of beds and stopped in front of a raised, circular pad at the far side of the room. “Is this the scanner?”

“Apparently so.” She let go of his arm, ignoring his first question, and stepped up on the platform. She looked around on the wall, looking for some kind of activation mechanism. “Do you see a button for this thing anywhere?”

Adrien shook his head and looked around. He looked at the computer where test tubes were arranged to be tested and he could not find anything. “Nothing here, Marinette.” He looked down to his arm. “Oh! There is a button that says “use” on the display! Try that!”

Marinette looked down at her arm and pressed the button. The floor of the circle lit up in a green, grid pattern as it scanned up her body, stats popped up on the screen next to Adrien. Adrien turned around to look at the screen. 

“What does it say, Adrien?” 

He put his hand on his chin in a thinking gesture, “Hmmm. It says, ‘Marinette is the most beautiful girl in the world.’” He turned around and grinned at her as her cheeks burst into flames again. 

Marinette slapped her hands to her cheeks and shook her head furiously. “No. No. No.” Adrien’s grin fell. “You aren’t going to turn me into a pile of mush in virtual reality! I am stronger than that!”

Adrien’s frown turned into a bemused smile as he watched Marinette give herself a pep talk. He leaned in close to her face, “Are you alright, My Lady?”

She whined and jumped off the scanner as soon as it said complete. She stepped closer to the beds, standing in the middle of the walkway, and turned to gesture to the scan pad. “Well? Your turn!” Her pitch was a little higher than normal.

Adrien smiled at her and stepped on the platform. “My Lady, you and I are going to have a looonngg talk when we get out of here aren’t we?” He pressed the button on his arm and the scan began.

“Can’t talk if we’re kissing.” She said off-handedly before violently slapping both hands over her mouth to shut herself up. 

Adrien stumbled in a standing position and stared at Marinette. “Please.” He whined. 

Marinette peeled her hands from her mouth. “You know. I think I am just going to stick to Ladybug mode and get us done with our tasks and then I can go home and rant to Tikki and then we can go on a da- Gahhhh! I need to shut up! Ok! Ladybug mode starting...now.” She stood up straighter and looked at Adrien with a fire in her eyes. 

“My Lady, keep looking at me like that and I will also melt into a puddle on this scanner.”

While the two were busy flirting with each other, they did not notice the noise coming from the floor behind Marinette. A figure climbed out of the vent next to one of the beds and crept towards the pair, the digital knife glinted in their hands. They were almost upon Marinette when Adrien cried out.

“My Lady! Watch out!” Adrien reacted as soon as he saw a shadow move behind Marinette. He jumped off the scanner as it was coming down around his waist and grabbed Marinette’s hand. He twirled her around to where she wobbled onto the platform and he was standing in the middle of the floor, except he twirled right onto the Impostor’s knife, which was already mid swing.

“Adrien!” Marinette screamed, reaching her hand out toward him as he fell to his knees and then flat on his face. She looked from Adrien’s still digital form to the person who was behind him. She gasped. “Luka!”

Luka smiled softly. “Hello Marinette.” He looked down at Adrien’s still form. “Who knew he could be that fast. It’s a shame, I was going to pin it on him, too.” He looked down at his arm, but Marinette was quicker. 

“If you think you are going to get away with this, you have another thing coming!” She quickly hit the report button and they were all instantly transported to the Cafeteria to stand around the table again. 


	3. The Chill Of Ghosts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aaaannndddd chapter 3! That's all you get for now until I can work on it more later tonight!! Enjoy!!

“Luka killed Adrien!” Marinette exclaimed, pointing towards Luka across the table. 

“Marinette. How could you do that to Adrien? I walked into Med Bay and I saw you slit his throat.” Luka replied calmly, holding out his hands in a defensive position. 

“Liar! I don’t know what happened behind me, but Adrien grabbed me out of the way and suddenly he’s on the ground in front of me and you are behind him with a knife in your hand!” Marinette screamed back at Luka.

“Ok. Ok. Hold on!” Alya interrupted. “First of all, Luka, this is the second person to accuse you of being the Impostor, and that other person is now dead as well. You also accused Adrien that first round and now he’s dead. And I know my girl. She would never harm a hair on Adrien’s head, even if it was for a game.” She leaned forward, smacked one hand on the table and then used the other to point at Luka. “So, you’re looking a little sus there, my friend. But you aren’t the only one.” She turned to Juleka. “Brother and sister Impostors. Not bad on the algorithm Max.”

“I assure you it is completely randomized.” Max interrupted. 

“Either way. I saw Juleka crawl into what looked like a vent when Nino and I were in Electrical. I was working on this task to calibrate something. Nino was in the far corner doing some kind of download, so I continued with my task, which was a little tricky at first, and I closed the box and looked to my left to see Nino’s body hit the ground and Juleka slink into the vent. I was about to hit the report button when we were all transported here.” Alya finished with her arms crossed, staring Juleka down. 

Juleka folded in on herself, looking nervous as the remaining players looked at her. “I-I-I have no idea what you’re talking about.” She mumbled, looking to the ground. 

“Well, it is time to vote, friends.” Max interrupted. “Who do we think the Impostor is?”

“It’s Luka!” Marinette said seriously. 

“I say we vote Luka and then vote Juleka, cause I know what I saw.” Alya squinted her eyes at Juleka. 

Marinette and Alya both pressed buttons on their arms to vote. Ivan looked at his friends and was a bit uncomfortable, but voted anyways. Juleka and Luka looked at each other before pressing their buttons as well. Max looked around the room and pressed his arm as everyone looked at the screen. Four votes for Luka, one for Marinette, and one for Juleka. 

“I see how it is guys. It’s ok. I shall remember this.” Luka hung his head, disappointed in his Crewmates. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you about Mari.” His body disappeared and the monitor changed to view the airlock. 

The remaining crew members watched as Luka was ejected out of the airlock and his body was jettisoned to the vacuum of space, before disappearing. The screen changed to say that Luka had been ejected. 

“It is done.” Max stated. “Let us hope we were right in our decision. Continue tasks.” He looked up toward the ceiling. “Do not forget, ghosts still need to complete their tasks.” 

“Ghosts?” Ivan asked.

“Yes. When you are killed you turn into a virtual ghost. You are able to phase through walls and Impostors can still sabotage while the Crewmates meet to complete their tasks. As you can see by the bar at the top of your personal display, it is almost done, which means the crew mates are almost completed with their tasks. If Crewmates complete tasks, they are the victors.” Max relied.

Alya leaned around Marinette, “You know, Max, with all your use of the word Crewmate and Impostor, I’d almost say you were the Impostor if I wasn’t 100% sure it was also Juleka, and I know my girl wouldn’t lie about Luka.” Alya squinted her eyes in his direction.

Max smirked. “Naturally that is to be expected, but I am fairly being objective.” 

Alya slowly leaned back to standing position. “Sounds sus.” 

“Let us get back to it, shall we?” Max responded suspiciously.

Max headed off into one direction, Ivan and Juleka in another, while Marinette stood frozen next to Alya. Alya turned to look at her best friend.

“Hey, girl. You ok there?” She laid her hand on Marinette’s shoulder. Marinette jumped at the contact. 

“Alya!” Marinette screeched. She grabbed Alya by both shoulders and started shaking her. “I told Adrien! I held Adrien’s hand! Adrien hugged me! I-I told Adrien I wanted to kiss him when we got out of virtual reality!” 

Alya chuckled as she reached up and removed Marinette’s hands from her shoulders and put them down at the other girl’s sides. “Well. That is quite a lot. I did see the two of you go into Med Bay earlier. It’s a shame I can’t record anything that happens in here.” She ended thoughtfully as she released Marinette’s arms. 

“Alya! What am I going to do?!” Marinette panicked.

Alya smirked at her best friend. “Well we are going to go do your next task, because I am done with mine. And on the way, you are going to tell me all about what you two got into in MedBay.” She hooked her arm through Marinette’s and started walking in a random direction. “Tell me your task, girl!” 

“Huh?” Marinette asked, confused. She saw Alya pointing to her arm. “Oh! Let’s see. Two more tasks. Uhh. It says ‘Navigation: chart course.’ And I also still have to go to Electrical. So I guess we go to Navigation.” Marinette checked her map. “It’s the other way Alya.” Marinette deadpanned at Alya, who was inching them closer to the hallway that led to Med Bay. “Bringing me to the Med Bay won’t make me tell you what happened faster.”

Alya snapped her fingers. “Oh darn! Well I tried! So, where are we going?” 

“That way.” Marinette pointed. Still arm in arm, they headed to the other side of the Cafeteria. 

“Can’t you tell me a teensy weensie bit of details about what happened? Pleeaasseee?” Alya pleaded with her as they walked into Weapons. Marinette looked at the map again to be sure they were going the right way. 

“Alya. We’ll talk later about it.” They walked down another hallway, O2 to their right as they walked by. Marinette shivered as if something touched her shoulder and neck. She looked above and around her. “Besides. I have a feeling we aren’t alone.”

“Marinette. We are the only two here.” Alya raised her eyebrow at her.

“Yeah, but remember what Max said? About ghosts.” Marinette replied as realization dawned on Alya’s face.

“You mean…?” Alya shivered as a weird feeling came over her. 

“Yes. The boys are probably behind or around us. Messing with us.” Marinette sighed, another small tingle around her neck. “Adrien. Stop or no kisses.” She spoke firmly to the air.

“Daaammmnn. Now I really want to know what happened in Med Bay.” Alya teased Marinette, poking her in the arm.

Marinette whipped her head to face Alya, “You hush, too! We have a game to win! Come on!” She pulled Alya along until they reached another hallway opening, the entrance to the room was dark. A camera, much like the one outside of Med Bay, lay above their heads on the wall to the left. She looked at her map and proceeded forward with caution. Alya watched Marinette’s serious face with amusement.

“You know, I don’t think Juleka is one to pop out of the shadows and surprise us?” Marinette raised an eyebrow at Alya. “What? She isn’t!”

“Didn’t she kill Nino in, where was it? Electrical? By stabbing him after crawling through a vent? Forgive my hesitance, but I think she knows how to be sneaky in virtual reality.” Marinette stepped further into the room and noticed two chairs near huge control panels. She glanced down at her arm and unlooped her arm from Alya’s. 

“Hey! Don’t let go!” Alya exclaimed. “Nino let go and that is how he was killed!”

Marinette rolled her eyes as she approached the leather chair in the center, in front of a steering wheel.. She ran her hand over the top of the chair as she observed the control panel in front of her. She noticed a faint yellow glow coming from the screen and pressed it. “Oh!” She gasped in surprise. A blue grid with a target in the center popped up, except its crosshairs were not centered. “Well, this is easy.” 

“Well hurry up and do it and maybe we can get out of here.” Alya said, her back towards Marinette, as she kept watch as far as she could down the hallway. 

“Keep your virtual space suit on, Alya. I’m almost done.” As she reached her finger toward the screen, she felt a chill continuously run up and down her spine. She tried to brush it off, until she realized how urgent the feeling was. It was not Adrien annoying her to bits, this was, “Chat.” She whispered in realization to herself. 

Marinette immediately whipped around to see Juleka creeping behind Alya as her back was turned. “Alya! Look out! Behind you!” She yelled as she lunged toward the two girls, but she was too late. Juleka had raised her hand and brought it down on Alya. Alya crumbled to the ground in a heap. “Alya! Noooo!!” 

The game seemed to freeze, Marinette in mid leap and Juleka mid pivot, as they became digitized once again and transported to the cockpit of the spaceship they were in before the game started. 

As soon as everyone reappeared, the noise was ridiculous. Everyone started yelling and screaming and laughing. Accusations of “how could you” and “I knew it was you the whole time,” flying in different directions. 

Marinette was a little lost when she was engulfed in a huge hug, his strong arms were around her shoulders as she blinked in surprise.

“My Lady,” he whispered into her ear so only she could hear. “You figured it out!” He exclaimed for all to hear. “I was hoping you would get my message from beyond the grave!” 

“Yes. I did. Thank you.” She got out without stuttering and wrapped her arms around his waist, returning the hug. A throat clear from their right had them breaking apart faster than he had embraced her. 

Alya stood there with Nino, their arms crossed, and eyebrows raised. “So when do we get this story?” Alya asked, her patience reaching an end. 

Adrien and Marinette looked at each other, then back to Alya, before simultaneously saying, “Later.” 

Alya groaned and turned to bash her head against Nino’s chest. Nino patted her back in comfort. “Hey, babe. It will be fine. We are kind of in the middle of something right now.” He gestured around them.

“Uhg. Fine. But I am not letting you leave Max’s until you have told me how this happened.” She gestured between the two of them. 

“Deal.” They both answered.

Alya cringed. “And stop doing that. All of the sudden you guys are on the same wavelength? That’s freaky. What did Max do to your brains?”

“You will see that I have done absolutely nothing to them, Alya.” Max answered behind her. 

Alya jumped in surprise as Max came up behind her to head to the center of the room. 

“Well, friends? How is it so far?” Max asked the room.

The room broke out into chaos with cheers and applause. The reaction was clearly a positive one. Max held his hand up and his friends went silent this time. 

“Now that we all have an understanding of the game, I will increase the amount of tasks the Crewmates will need to achieve, and increase the kill cooldown for the Impostors, from 10 to 20 seconds. Do you agree to these terms?” Max asked.

Everyone in the room nodded their heads.

“Very well. Have fun. Remember, there are probably two Impostors.” Max said ominously as he pressed a button on the computer at the center. Everyone became digitized once again and they spawned around the Cafeteria table. 

Marinette looked at her arm. IMPOSTOR, in bright red letters was labeled on her screen, along with the name, Alya, underneath it. Marinette looked to Alya, who looked at her. 

They grinned at each other, and Round Two began. 


	4. Revenge is Best Served Sus

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I could have waited til the morning, but I said fuck it, here's chapter 4!!! 
> 
> Enjoy!

Marinette needed to distance herself quickly from the group. If she knew her Chat, he would want to stick with her the whole game, like the last round. She could not let that happen this time. She ran down the hallway past Med Bay, noticing that she could see a longer distance away than when she was a Crewmate. 

“Interesting.” She said to herself.

She stopped by, what appeared to be, an engine and looked at her map, “Upper Engine, huh?” She backed out of the map and noticed a Sabotage button. She pressed it and noticed circles over a few of the rooms that had Xs on them. She pressed one that said Upper Engine and the doors in front and behind her suddenly closed. 

“Ooo, this is gonna be fun.” She saw other circles with symbols on them when suddenly they grayed out and alarms started blaring. The O2 was pressed and was counting down until they ran out. She saw on her map where the two places were and decided to leave it to the Crewmates.

The doors finally opened and she continued down and came upon a cross hallway. One side labeled Reactor, the other Security. The alarms stopped, so the oxygen threat must have been repaired. She walked into Security and immediately noticed a desk on the wall in front of her. To the left was a huge computer with multiple monitors and to the right a red outline briefly glowed on the floor. A vent. The things that Luka and Juleka were using to get around to kill people. 

Marinette ignored the vent, for now, and approached the monitors. She saw a button glowing on the keyboard and pressed it. Four squares popped up on the screen, each showing a different part of the ship. She watched Ivan and Juleka walk into Navigation. Nathaniel and Marc standing outside of Admin. No one across from Med Bay, and Max walking into the Reactor room. 

“No sign of Adrien,” She muttered to herself. “But I can take out Max. The smartest one, before Adrien. No one seems to be coming. Ha! Just like figuring out my Lucky Charms.” 

She backed away from the computer and walked back to the doorway. She looked left and right to be sure no one was coming and leaped into the Reactor room. Max stood at the center, on the wall, messing with some type of console. He noticed her in his peripherals. 

“Ah, Marinette. Welcome to the Reactor. What task are you completing here?” Max asked as he continued pressing buttons.

“Uhh. Killing you?” She stated as a question, not sure how to answer Max. She approached Max as he stared at the glowing reactor in front of him.

“Marinette. The Impostor. Killing the smartest player. I expected nothing less from you. I am honored to die by your hand.” Max grinned and bowed his head.

She walked up behind him and grabbed his head, and twisted a little. He fell to the ground in a heap and Marinette backed away quickly, jumping back into Security. She needed to make sure no one saw her. Looking both ways she lept back across the hallway and back to the monitors. 

She looked at her arm and, in a split second decision, pressed the O2 button and the alarms blared. Her cool down still had about fifteen seconds, so she looked at the security monitors again and watched as Luka stopped outside of Med Bay, right as the alarms stopped. Clearly people were a lot closer this time. 

She watched Alya walk by Navigation and down to Shields, as Luka found his way to the cross hallway of Security and Reactor. She held her breath as he walked into Security and she immediately walked away from the monitors. She glanced at her arm, which still had fifteen seconds.  _ Crap. The cooldown must not countdown when I use things. This changes things.  _

She whipped around to face Luka. “Luka.” Her voice was cold and judging. 

“Marinette.” He said with a smile. “You can stand down, I’m not here to kill you.” 

“I don’t trust you.” She hissed. “You killed Adrien and tried to frame him last game!” 

“Yes but, that was then, this is now.” He shrugged, still standing in the doorway, not coming into the room. “What do you have there?” He pointed to the monitor. 

“If you say you aren’t the Impostor, then I believe you. But just know, I’m watching you, mister.” She pointed and squinted at Luka. “But come take a look at what I found.” She points to the screens behind her. 

Luka approached cautiously, stepping up behind Marinette to look at the camera feed. “Alright. What am I looking at?”

“I saw something around the Navigation area. It looked kinda, what did Alya call it? Sus? Well it looked suspicious and I think that Ivan might be the Imposter. Watch with me so I can have someone else confirm that I saw it happen.” Marinette smiled and batted her eyes at Luka.

Luka sighed. “You know, using your Marinette wiles isn’t going to help you much. I have seen the way you and Adrien have been. Something happened before that first meeting to make him that red and I am sure it was you. And I am happy for you, really, but just know….I am still sus of you.”

“Oh, Luka. You have always been so good at reading people without ever having to talk to them. I assume that virtual reality is no different. And you are right. Something did happen between Adrien and I when the lights went out in the first game. And you know what else?” She turned around, leaning her butt up against the desk, looked Luka in the eyes, as he looked away from the monitor and down into her eyes, and stabbed him in the gut. “You have every reason to be sus of me.” 

Luka grabbed his abdomen as he fell to his knees on the ground in front of Marinette. “Why?”

“Nobody kills  _ my  _ Adrien and gets away with it.” She responded. She pushed his body by the side of his head and he fell over onto the ground. She looked at her arm, eighteen seconds. She looked back to the monitors and noticed Nathaniel walking passed Med Bay. She looked back to her arm, pressed sabotage and pressed Electrical. 

The ship was plunged into darkness and she figured people would head towards Electrical. She looked around the room and noticed how she could see everything still, wondering if this was how Adrien saw things in the dark in reality. The lights-out gave her time to get out of Security. She glanced back at the camera and watched Nathaniel as he walked through the crossways and stop, before turning to walk back towards her. 

She looked around, knowing she needed to get out fast, and ran to the other side of the room. She lifted the vent, jumped in, and closed the vent quietly behind her. The ventilation shaft was tall enough for her to crouch in, but she knew it would be easier if she crawled, and it split off into left and right paths. She crawled to the right tunnel and only made it a few meters before running head first into someone.

“Oof!”

“Ouch! I think.” Marinette looked up, only to come face to face with Alya. “Alya!”

Alya grinned. “Hello there fellow Impostor. I don’t think we feel pain. How many so far?”

“I’m used to hurting myself, it’s an automatic response. And two, you?” 

“I just murdered Juleka in Electrical and Kim was my first kill in O2. Nice job on the lights by the way.” 

“I’ve been watching the security feed. Nathaniel was coming toward me, I had to get out. Since everyone is going to Electrical, let’s get out of the vent I came from-” She gestured to the vent behind her, “and then double back around.” 

“Sounds good. I knew this was going to be good as soon as I saw that you were my partner in crime!” Alya squealed. 

Marinette turned around in the ventilation and crawled back to the vent she had jumped through. Alya crawled behind her, sticking close. She stood up in a crouch and gently lifted the vent with both hands. She jerked a bit when she felt hands at her waist. “Alya!” She hissed.

“Sorry, M. Just trying to stabilize you. Didn’t want that grate to come back down if you fell.” Alya reassured her. 

Marinette rolled her eyes. “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Alya squeezed her sides, regardless if Marinette could feel it or not. “Hey, Marinette. If we get caught and people start throwing accusations in our direction. I will go down for this ship!” She said confidently. 

“Alya. You don’t have to do that. It’s just a game...however, if you feel like you must take the trip to space. I am not going to stop you.” Marinette grinned wildly down at Alya. 

Alya jerked back a bit. “Jeeze, Marinette! No, ‘Alya, my dearest friend, please don’t sacrifice yourself for me!’ Nothing?” Alya scoffed. “But then again, this is video game Marinette I am talking to. She would do anything to win.” She shook her head.

“Damn straight. Glad we are on the same page. Now come on no one is in the room and they just fixed the lights, it’s only a matter of time before they discover-” 

Marinette never finished her sentence because they were digitized and sent to the Cafeteria, where four friends were missing from the table. The friends were shocked because Max led their meetings the first game, but now he was dead. 

“Well, dudes.” Nino started. “What happened? Who called it and where, I guess?” He sounded uncertain. 

“I called it!” Alix exclaimed. “I walked into O2 from Weapons and there was poor Kim, laying on the ground in front of the keypad for the emergency.” She explained. “I didn’t see anyone else around.” Alix looked around the table at her friends. “Which one of you knuckleheads killed the king of the knuckleheads?”

Murmurs broke out around the table. Marinette took a deep breath and decided to use her Ladybug authority to take charge of the situation, she just had to make it believable enough to fool Adrien. 

“Alright, easy question. Where was everyone when the lights came back on?”

“An excellent question, Marinette!” Adrien exclaimed. Marinette smiled, knowing she already had his trust. “I was in Electrical with Nino, Ivan, and Marc. We were all trying to fix the lights. Uh, note for the future. I would recommend only one person tries to fix them next time it happens. It goes faster that way.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly, looking embarrassed. 

“I was in O2, as I’ve already said.” Alix responded with a roll of her eyes. 

“I was in Navigation.” Marc spoke softly. 

“I was in Lower Engine, headed to Electrical.” Nathaniel stated. This was the opening Marinette needed. Find out the location of your enemies and execute an alibi which they could not prove. 

“Lower engine you say?” Marinette asked. 

“Umm, yes?” Nathaniel responded, wondering why he was being questioned about his location. 

“Hmm.” Marinette placed her thumb and finger around her chin in a thinking gesture. “Because Alya and I were in Security when the lights went out and came back on. And guess who we saw leaving from O2 on the Navigation’s camera. So tell me, Nathaniel, how could you be in Lower Engine, when you killed Kim in O2!?” She jerked her hand away from her face and pointed her finger accusingly at Nathaniel. 

“What? No. You’re lying! Clearly you’re the Impostor! I wasn’t even on that side of the ship!” He bit back. 

“Nathaniel. We saw you on cams, the only way you could get away from that area is to walk, there are no vents in that area.” Alya chimed in.

“You would know where the vents are, wouldn’t you! Imposter!” Nathaniel yelled back at Alya. 

“Ok. Ok.” Adrien started calmly. “Clearly you’re guilty, Nathaniel. Marinette and Alya caught you on camera. And if that isn’t damning evidence, I don’t know what is.” 

“Except I’m not guilty! They are trying to frame me! If you throw me out, you guys are going to lose!” Nathaniel retaliated. 

“I don’t know, Nathaniel, Marinette is a pretty bad liar and that story was very detailed.” Alix said thoughtfully. “Sorry buddy, I’m voting.” Alix looked down at her arm and clicked the voting button.

Everyone else started to vote as well, as Nathaniel grumbled to himself. The computer monitor showed the votes, and the tallies were interesting. Five votes for Nathaniel. One for skip. And two for Marinette. 

“What the hell, Nino!?” Adrien exclaimed. “Why would you vote for Marinette!?” He demanded. 

“Sorry, bro. Your girl mad sus right now.” Nino replied, his arms held in front of him in defense. 

“That’s ridiculous! She’s completely innocent! I’d definitely know if she was lying!” Adrien yelled back, arms flailing around.

“Boys!” Marinette yelled. She gestured to the monitor on the wall, slowing Nathaniel in the airlock. “We can get back to why Nino is the other Impostor later.” Marinette stated. 

“Excuse me, dudette?” Nino exclaimed. 

“Only an Impostor would vote for someone who isn’t the Impostor.” Marinette stated. Nathaniel was booted out of the airlock as the monitor notified them that he was ejected. 

Marinette turned around and looked at her friends as they all looked at each other. “Well, back to tasks everyone!” She instructs, knowing Alya is right behind her, ready to sabotage. “Come on, Alya! Let’s go do our tasks in Electrical!” Marinette grabbed Alya’s hands and ran for the hallway to Admin. She brought Alya close to her, “Hit the Cafeteria doors, quick!” She hissed in her ear. 


	5. Betrayal Five

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter!!! The amount of memes in this chapter are TOO DAMN HIGH!!   
> Enjoy!! And only one more chapter to go!

Alya hit the button on her arm and the doors behind them slid closed. Marinette stopped them both and winked at Alya, before pounding on the door. “Adrien!?” Marinette yelled through the door, panicked. 

“Marinette!?” His panicked, muffled reply came. “Are you alright?!”

“Yes, we’re fine. We are going to Electrical. Who’s in there with you?” She asked, keeping the panic in her voice. 

“Just me, I think. Everyone else seems to have gotten out.” He said. 

Marinette backed away from the door. “Come on, let’s go!” She dragged Alya into Storage and to the right of the stack of boxes, to the hallway leading to Electrical. 

“You played that boy like a harp. Where’d this Marinette come from and how do I get my innocent best friend back?” Alya teased her. Marinette bumped Alya a bit but then stopped and yanked on Alya before they reached the hallway. “What? Why are we stopping?”

“I think we should split up again.” Marinette stated.

“Why? We can be each other’s alibis!” Alya responded. 

“We will have an easier time picking off people if we split up.” Marinette thought for a moment. “If you see Nino, don’t kill him.”

“Why wouldn’t I kill Nino?” Alya looked at her like she had sprouted an extra head. “He tried to vote you off!”

“Exactly. If we kill him now, it will look sus on me. The others will think that I killed him to get him out of the way.”

Alya’s face lit up in recognition. “Oh! You’re right. Hmm. We need to get them off of your trail, but how?” Her face morphed into thinking, her hand on her chin. “What if we faked tasks and made it seem like we were helping?”

Marinette grabbed Alya’s shoulder suddenly. “Alya, you’re a genius!”

“Well, I don’t mean to brag or anything, but I am pretty smart.” Alya grinned at her. 

“Alright, you go that way, towards-” She looked at her map. “-Communications. And I will go to Electrical. If you see someone, hopefully not Nino, kill them.” An evil grin spreading over Marinette’s face as she rubbed her hands together. 

Alya leaned away from Marinette as she watched her best friend rub her hands together. “You ok there, girl?” Alya asked unnerved. 

“Oh yes! This game is definitely ours, I just need to get Adrien alone to take him out.” Marinette plotted.

“Going to kiss him to death?” Alya asked, her grin and voice smug as she leaned into Marinette’s face.

“No!!” Marinette screeched, pushing Alya away. “Well, I mean. Maybe? I don’t know. We’ll see. Either way, let’s go!” 

Alya chuckled and shook her head as she turned towards the hallway for Comms. “Good luck, girl. Don’t melt. And don’t forget to kill him.” She giggled as she sauntered away. 

Marinette watched Alya disappear behind the boxes and into the darkness, before looking down to her sabotage map, contemplating which one she could do next, when she heard footsteps coming. She backed behind the box Alya disappeared behind, and watched Adrien walk by into the hallway to Electrical. 

“Purr-fect.” She whispered to herself, before realizing what she said. “Damn cat.” 

“Marinette?” A soft, yet deep voice questioned from behind her. “Are you ok?” 

Marinette quickly devised a plan to get closer to Ivan without looking suspicious. She turned around and faced Ivan. “Ivan! I am so glad to see you! I just saw Nino walk by and I don’t know what happened to Alya!”

Ivan furrowed his brows. “Nino? I just left Nino in Cafeteria and he headed to Weapons. It must have been someone else...or-” Ivan took a few steps back from Marinette. “Are you the killer Marinette?!”

Marinette knew she had to move fast, Ivan was a big guy, even in virtual reality, his weight meant something. She had Ivan backed up to the wall to the left of a lever on the wall. She felt a tingle on her arm and felt a long rod forming in her hand next to her leg. 

“No, Ivan, I’m not the killer. I told you, it has to be Nino.” She answered him calmly.

“Marinette.” The silence of the barely running ship palpable between the friends. Ivan pointed behind Marinette. “What’s that behind your back?”

“Oh...a knife.” Marinette swung her arm from behind her back and the long thin blade went flying, as it struck Ivan through his suit, rendering him immobile. Ivan’s large form came toppling down in a heap at Marinette’s feet. “That was easy.” She turned and looked at the direction Adrien had run off to. “Now for the pussycat.” She grinned, thinking of the ways that she could get his guard down. 

Leaving Ivan’s body behind, Marinette walked to Electrical. She glanced at her sabotage map, and thought about maybe doing lights or the door, but her cooldown was too long for that. She walked down the hallway, quietly, not seeing anyone on the way, and stopped in front of Electrical. She took a deep breath, knowing it would take a clear head to do this. 

Marinette walked into Electrical and noticed electrical panels in front of her and wires all over the floor, making note not to fall over them. She wondered if Adrien had come in here to do tasks or if he was specifically looking for her. She went deeper into the room and walked over a few more wires, only to trip over another which was close to the panels...landing straight into Adrien’s waiting arms.

“Well, it seems, even in virtual reality, you’re still madly clumsy.” His voice filled with mirth. 

Marinette groaned. “I really don’t like that you know every embarrassing thing about me now.” She bumped her head into his chest and shook it back and forth, her face red with embarrassment and excitement. His hands supported her elbows as he helped her stand up straight and untangle the thick wires from around her foot. He dragged his hands down the underside of her arms to hold her hands, and pulled her farther into Electrical. 

He guided her gracefully over two more sets of wires and led them to the wall which held more electric panels. “Don’t worry, I won’t let those evil, virtual wires harm you ever again.” His smile was cheeky and boyish. 

Marinette shook her head and pushed Adrien away from her. “Easy there, tomcat, for all I know, you are the Impostor and you are just really good at lying. I haven’t seen you the whole game.” Adrien opened his mouth to retort, but Marinette interrupted him. “Now, I have some wires to fix in here.” She paused to look around, noticing a lightning bolt on the panel in front of her, and grabbed at the sides, peeling it off. “That’s a whole mess.” 

Marinette placed the panel on the floor and started fiddling with the tangled wires. She watched Adrien walk backwards, gracefully stepping over a wire, and placed his hand on a latch of another panel. He pivoted and faced the panel, opening it to reveal three colored circles, spinning around. “Interesting.” He sounded curious. “I wonder…” He reached in and started to press buttons, it zip-zapped at him, and he jumped back a bit. He glanced over at Marinette, whose hands were wrapped in wires. “This one bites a bit.” He grinned at her. She rolled her eyes and went back to her task. 

“Need some help there?” Adrien’s voice came from her right.

“Gah! When did you get done!?” Marinette looked at him as he grinned fully at her, his eyes closed before he opened them quickly, realizing he should not let his guard down. 

“Just now. That task was quick if you didn’t miss any.” He pointed his thumb over his shoulder. She nodded as she went back to the wires, falsely fiddling with them. 

They were silent for a few seconds before Adrien’s hands laid over hers. “What are you doing?” She asked softly. 

He untangled the wires from around her hands, resulting in them being tangled around his own hands instead. “Well then.” He began to fiddle with them, finally able to connect the blue wire first. “So, what have you told Alya?”

Marinette turned away from him and groaned. “Nothing. But she is going to want to know what happened to get you to act like that and for me to respond like I did.” She started to pace in the small area, careful of the wires. “And she is going to want to know as soon as we are done with the game! Adrien! What are we going to tell her!?” She stopped pacing and looked to Adrien for help, yet also feeling that tingle of her kill counter telling her that she could kill again. 

Adrien hooked the last wire in and bent over and grabbed the panel, replacing it gently, before turning to Marinette. He placed a hand on her shoulder and the other on her cheek, looking deep in her eyes. “Look at me.” He grazed his thumb over her cheek hoping to provide comfort. “Just tell her that I have always loved you and I finally gathered the courage to tell you and I was just so excited that you loved me back I couldn’t contain myself.” He squeezed her shoulder, watching her face turn red as he spoke. 

She looked up into his green eyes, her own glassy with unshed virtual tears. “How do you always know what to say to me?” She reached up and stroked his face. He leaned into her hand, enjoying the affection. “You’re always saving me from both bad guys and myself. Always encouraging me to do the best I can, whether it was Adrien helping me study or it was Chat telling me I could exterminate a few pesky butterflies.” She pulled him subtly closer, her other hand underneath his forearm, gripping it. “I love you so much it’s kind of insane. And I always said I couldn’t love Chat more than a friend because I loved Adrien so much, yet here you are...proving me wrong! In the middle of virtual reality, no less.” She shook her head, looking down at the ground, and looked back into his eyes. 

He stared back into her eyes, their faces drifting closer together, their lips barely touching, as Adrien whispered, “Want to see if we can feel a kiss in virtual reality?” 

She brought both arms up and wrapped them around Adrien’s neck as she stood on her tippy-toes to reach his lips. His eyes slowly closed as he leaned in more. Her one hand wrapped around his neck, playing with the hairs at his nape, while the other lifted into the air just above his shoulders, a knife forming in her hands. Her lips ghosted his before she flicked her tongue out and licked his bottom lip, she felt his body tense under her touch. She knew he had figured it out. 

Adrien’s eyes opened up and looked down at Marinette. Her tongue still poked out to the side of her lips, and an innocent, yet murderous, look in her eyes. “So that’s how it’s going to be, huh? Well I suppose if I had to die, it should be by your hand, My Lady. I must say this before you end me though, as I am sure your hand is becoming tired holding the knife over my back.”

“Be quick, Chaton, I will make this swift.” She answered back. 

He sighed, “Curse your sudden, yet inevitable betrayal!” 

She brought the knife down into his back and guided his body to the ground. “Sometimes I forget how much of a nerd you are, Adrien.” She shivered as a chill ran up her spine. “And now I have to deal with revenge ghost Adrien. Fun stuff.” 

She moved to the back of Electrical and turned to open the vent. She opened it and jumped inside, but before she could reach up to close it she became digitized again and appeared around the Cafeteria table with Nino, Alya, Alix, and Marc. 


	6. But Who Was It?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woo finally finished! Hope you all enjoyed this. The last chapter was a bit longer than the rest so I broke it off into the epilogue.

“Holy hell!” Alix exclaimed. “Whoever just called this meeting saved my life! Care to explain what that was all about, Cesaire!” She pointed her finger in Alya’s face. 

Alya placed her hands in the air in defence. “Alix. Please don’t point fingers at me. It’s not nice.” 

Alix visibly recoiled, “Excuse, me? Were you or were you not about to slam a knife down into my back as I was cleaning out the shoot in Oxygen?!” 

Alya shrugged. “I’m pretty sure that wasn’t me. I was in Navigation charting a course. Besides-” 

“Ok, babe. I’m going to stop you there, because you’re wrong.” Nino interrupted.

Alya swiftly turned to face her boyfriend. “Excuse me?! Want to run that by me again?” She placed her hands on her hips, challenging Nino. 

“You’re wrong. But first, Marinette?” Nino turned to his other side, where Marinette stood. “What’d you do with my boy?” He gestured around the table at the lack of his best friend. 

“Me? Are you still on that? I’m still very sure it’s you Nino!” She placed her hands on her hips, before gesturing to Alix. “And now after what I hear what Alix said, I’m pretty sure the two Impostors are Alya and you!” 

“Where were you at before the meeting was called?” Nino looked at her suspiciously. 

“I was in the Upper Engine, aligning it!” A chill ran up her spine again and she had to suppress a shudder. Adrien was clearly messing with her, trying to get her to slip up. The cheater. 

“Didn’t I see you and Alya go south from the Cafeteria when we left the table last time?” Nino asked. Marinette froze a bit. “And I distinctly remember you telling Alya that you were going to be doing tasks in Electrical. Together! So which is it,  _ Impostor _ ? And to get back to Alya,” He turned to look at his girlfriend scowling at him. “I was in Navigation when you claimed that you were there. So which is it, Babe?” 

Alya looked down, her shoulders shaking, before she threw her head back and laughed maniacally, but still very fake. She wiped a “tear” from her eye and looked at her boyfriend. “Oh Nino! When did you get to be such a detective! You’ve been holding out on me!” she stopped her laughter. “There’s just one problem...Marc is the one that called the meeting. Let’s hear what he has to say.” 

The remaining Crewmates looked to Marc, who looked a bit nervous. “Um. Well. I was in Admin, uploading data. Once the Cafeteria doors opened, Adrien rushed through as soon as he could, but I remember Ivan was with us on that side of the Cafeteria. I thought I heard footsteps when I was in Admin, but wasn’t sure. When I got done, I walked into Storage and walked by the boxes and was about to head to Shields, I think, and I saw Ivan’s body laying on the ground.”

A gasp was heard from Marinette. “I knew it had to be you and Nino, Alya!” She laid her hand over her heart in disbelief. “When we went separate ways in Storage, I didn’t think you would go on a killing spree!” Another chill ran through her body, clearly Adrien was a bit butthurt. 

“Nice try, M. I never saw Ivan. I went straight to Navigation.” Alya defended, wagging her finger at Marinette. 

“Except you’re both wrong!” Nino interrupted. “I was in Navigation, and you were not there!” 

“No! It has to be the two of you!” Marinette accused. “I’m sure of it!”

“Hmm,” Alix cut in. “It seems we are at an impasse. Nino and Marinette both seem to think it is Alya. And I am one hundred percent convinced it’s Alya because I caught her with a knife in her hand trying to take me out! So regardless of what you guys vote, I’m voting Alya.” She pressed the vote button on her arm and stared down the rest of her Crewmates.

“Alright then, since I know Alya is lying about being in Navigation, I’m going to vote for her too.” Nino turned toward Marinette. “But I’m voting Marinette out next. I know it has to be her.” 

“I don’t know, Nino. Marinette is a bad liar and you seem to be gunning for her real hard.” Alix squinted her eyes at Nino. “I have my eyes on you too, mister.”

The display screen started beeping and the five Crewmates looked in its direction to see that it was counting down. Marinette and Marc quickly looked to their arms and cast their vote. Alya reached for her arm but did not make it in time. The votes appeared on screen with four votes on Alya. 

“Well. I see where all of you stand.” Were Alya’s last words as she was teleported to the airlock and was immediately booted. 

The remaining four exchanged looks; suspicious of each other. Marinette and Nino glared at each other. 

“Um guys.” Marc said softly. “If we finish our tasks, the Crewmates will win, I think.” 

“You’re right, Marc!” Marinette agreed. She grabbed his hand and started to walk toward Weapons. “I have one more task left-” she looked at her arm,”-in Weapons shooting asteroids. Come watch me do it, Marc!” 

“No. No. You don’t get to just pick off the weaker ones -no offense Marc, you and I can go and then we can go finish my task in Navigation.” Nino crossed his arms over his chest, challenging Marinette. 

“No, Nino, I am not teaming up with you cause you are the Impostor and that is just asking for death.” Marinette turned, motioned to Marc, and walked out of the Cafeteria. She turned back around in the hallway and gestured to Marc again. He timidly walked toward her as Nino started to shout at him.

“No Marc, don’t do it! It’s a-” The Cafeteria doors shut as soon as Marc crossed over the threshold of the hallway. “-trap.” Nino dropped his head in exasperation before looking at Alix, who was gone. “It’s like no one listens to me. Maybe I should just shut my big mouth.” He stood there for a few seconds before heading toward the southern end of the Cafeteria, towards Storage, hoping the door would be open before he meandered over there. He knew they were all dead, but maybe they could win with tasks.

********

Marc and Marinette squeaked as the door closed behind Marc as he ran to stand closer to Marinette.

“Are you ok, Marc!?” Marinette exclaimed. “I know it’s a game, but that has to be scary when a door closes on your back like that!” 

“Yeah. Yeah. I think I’m ok. It just startled me is all.” He collected himself and looked at Marinette. “You said you had asteroids to shoot?”

“Yes. I do. Come on, let’s go!” She answered and gestured behind her. Clearly Alya was sabotaging as a ghost because she did not press the button to close the door. 

Marc and Marinette walked up to one side of a chair in front of a giant digital screen. Marinette looked at her screen on her arm at the exact moment she heard a subtle whoosh sound of sliding doors opening back up. She noticed that she could now sabotage other things and a plan formed in her mind just as fast as her Lucky Charms. She pressed a button and suddenly there was an alarm blaring and red lights flashing throughout the ship.

“Oh no! That’s an emergency warning!” Marc exclaimed. He looked at his screen, “It’s the oxygen! It has two spots and this one is closest.” He suddenly looked at Marinette. “What happens if no one gets the other one!” He panicked.

“It’s ok, Marc. You can get this one, and I will go and get the other one.” 

“Ok. That’s a plan. I’m so glad I got paired up with you Marinette.” 

The two made their way swiftly toward O2. Marc approached the keypad, entered in his code, and then looked at Marinette, confused. “Why aren’t you going the other way, Marinette?” Marinette looked down at her hand, a knife materializing in it. Marc gasped. “Marinette! I trusted you! How could you!?” He exclaimed. 

Marinette chuckled. “Well, I might be bad at lying, but I am really good with coming up with plans on the fly.” She shivered again and turned to yell at the air. “Adrien Agreste, I will murder your ghost if you don’t stop it right now!” She looked back to Marc, who looked even more afraid of his friend. “Sorry. Impostors can feel the chill of the ghosts, and Adrien will not leave me alone since I murdered him.” 

She let loose the knife in her hand and it hit Marc in the chest and he fell to his knees and then to his face. 

“Sorry, Marc. Nothing personal, I just like to win.” She noticed the alarm was still going off, so she dashed back to Weapons, ran through the edge of the Cafeteria, and into the hallway towards Admin. As soon as she passed into the hallway the alarms stopped. “Which means someone must be in Admin.” She whispered to herself. She looked at her display and saw the different sabotage options recharging. She looked up right as Nino walked out of Admin, Alix right behind him.

“Nino! Alix! Have you seen Marc!?” Marinette exclaimed.

Nino crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know, Marinette, where  _ is  _ Marc?” Nino stepped closer to the Cafeteria. Marinette took a step back.

“He told me he was going down to Communications after he watched me shoot a couple of asteroids, then the alarm sounded. I turned the other keypad off and made my way here in case no one was down here. And I find you and Alix.” 

In the time she was speaking, Nino had backed her up closer to the Cafeteria. Suddenly, the doors wooshed closed behind her, cutting the three off from the other room. The three gasped in surprise, looking at each other accusingly. They stared in silence for a few seconds as the door came wooshing open. As soon as they did, the lights went out. 

“Wonderful, Marinette. I know it’s you and Alya. She’s been doing the sabotages or I would see you reaching for your computer.” Nino accused. 

“This is not me! This is you! Alya tried to trap me so you could kill me!” Marinette retorted. 

“Why would I do that!? Alix is right here!” Nino gestured to Alix.

Marinette opened her mouth to defend herself when Alix cut in. “Did it ever occur to you knuckle heads that maybe Marc was playing us the whole time and he’s trying to do something!” 

They were silent for a second before they all attempted to scramble to the emergency button. They didn’t make it far with the lights out, regardless of how much Marinette could actually still see with her night vision. 

“Guys! This isn’t working, let’s hold hands and walk to the button.” Marinette “felt around” in the dark for her Crewmate’s hands and grabbed them. “Alright. Let’s walk forward slowly.” 

Nino grunted and Alix remained quiet. They finally reached the center table in the Cafeteria and approached the button...and groaned all at once. 

“Really! This is just perfect! Now Marinette just has to kill one of us unless we fix the lights!” Nino huffed, crossing his arms. 

“Nino. Stop griping and come help us fix the lights!” Alix yelled at him. 

He held his hand up, “Oh no, I don’t think so. You can go, Marinette, and Alix and I will stay here, waiting to hit the button.” 

“You are just going to leave me to myself?” Marinette huffed. “What if I was wrong and Marc is the killer. Then that leaves him to wait for me when I get to Electrical!” She crossed her arms across her chest and felt a teasing tingle at her shoulders. 

“Come on Nino, let’s go together, we fix the lights and rush for the button. Ok?” Alix asked. 

Nino looked at the two and huffed, “Fine. Let’s go.” 

The three made their way back down the dark hallway, into Storage, hugging the wall, and into the hallway which led to Electrical. They entered the doorway of Electrical and walked up to the panel they needed. 

“Well, Marc isn’t here, Marinette. So which one are you going to pick off first?” Nino accused Marinette. 

“Will you two shut up and help me with this!” Alix rolled her eyes. 

Nino turned to help Alix. Marinette backed up slowly toward the door. She felt a tingle at her wrist, signaling her kill timer cooldown was done. She placed her hands behind her back and materialized a knife. She was about to stab one of them when Alix suddenly closed the panel and turned to Marinette. The lights came back on and Nino and Alix saw Marinette standing there. 

“See that wasn’t...so...hard…” Alix looked down at Marinette’s hand, seeing the knife. “Marinette?”

“See! What did I tell you!” Nino yelled.

The doors behind Marinette whooshed closed as her demonic grin grew wider; enough to give Chat a run for his money. Marinette looked at her friends in front of her, mentally deciding which one to take out. 

“So which one wants to be the last kill of the game?” Marinette asked.

“Et tu, Mari!” Alix replied. “I trusted you. I figured there was no way you could have been Imposter! You wouldn’t have the guts to kill Adrien, virtually or otherwise!” 

Marinette laughed loudly, “He was the easiest to fool out of all of you! But, I know I had to take him out regardless once the numbers started to get lower. He’s good at seeing through my lies.”

“Uhh...since when, dudette?” Nino asked, confused. 

Marinette stiffened as she realized her error. “Um. Never mind. It doesn’t matter!” She shook her head, “Which one will it be?” 

Alix looked at Nino, who stood his ground, she huffed, and walked closer to Marinette. “Fine. If Nino doesn’t want to man up, go ahead. Make it quick.” 

Alix spread her arms wide, waiting for Marinette to strike. She did not have to wait long as Marinette lunged, plunging the digital knife into her chest and the entire game froze for a second as they all blinked and were digitized into the first ship's room. 


	7. Finale

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The End!
> 
> Thanks for reading, everyone!

There was a single slow clap as everyone turned to Max. “Well everyone, I believe we all know that regardless of the game, Marinette will always be the winner.”

Marinette gave Max a sheepish look. “Oh. Max. You know it was just beginners luck.” She waved her hand in his direction.

“On the contrary, I believe you knew exactly what you were doing after a single round and knew to take out the Crewmates who would have suspected you first. Hence why you executed yours truly first.” 

Marinette chuckled as everyone tried to talk over each other. She noticed Adrien across the crowd of their friends, restraining himself this time, instead of rushing to hug the virtual life out of her. He grinned and she smiled back, shaking her head. 

A loud whistle rang out as once again Max gained the attention of the room. “Thank you. Now, do you wish to keep playing or shall we take a break?”

Before anyone could chime in, Marinette spoke up. “I think I’m beat, Max. Take us home!”

Max nodded, “Very well.” 

He pressed a button on his wrist and everyone was once again digitized, except this time appeared in the real world. Everyone began to remove the headsets, but none faster than Alya, who threw the headset at Nino, much to Max’s horror, and whipped her phone out of her pocket and immediately hit record on the camera as she pointed it at her and her boyfriend’s best friends. 

Adrien already had his headset off and was assisting Marinette, who had tangled the head strap in her pigtails. “Easy there, princess, don’t want to lose any of those gorgeous locks.”

Marinette groaned, “Will you cut it out with the schmoozing!” She dropped her voice lower, “and cut out the nicknames before-” Marinette noticed the camera in Alya’s hand “-Alya! What are you doing?!” Marinette screeched, slightly hysterical. 

“Recording for your wedding, what does it look like?” Alya wiggled her eyebrows at the lovebirds. “Inquiring minds wish to know...what happened in there? You were chummy before, but now...now you’re touchy-feely chummy. So tell me...what happened, girl!”

“Uhh. Uhh. Umm,” Marinette stammered out. “You see...the thing is...Adrien and I...weeee...ummm...Adrien?” Marinette awkwardly chuckled to her partner, gesturing to him to continue where she could not. 

Adrien stared at Marinette for a few seconds before realizing what she wanted him to do. He suddenly looked to Alya, phone still in hand recording, before picking up Marinette in a bridal hold. Making sure that her purse was secured around her chest, he leapt onto the cushions of the couch and vaulted over the back. Their friends all stared with wide eyes and open mouths. 

Once on the floor on the other side of the couch, Adrien turned to face their friends, Marinette hid her face in her hands in embarrassment. “Well everyone! This has been a wonderful day of games and hanging out, but I have a date to plan with one, Marinette Dupain-Cheng, soooo, thanks again Max. Bye!” 

He turned around and bolted out of the room’s door, leaving the room in silence. Alix was the first to break the silence, nudging Alya, “I hope you got all of that on camera, cause I’m not sure even I believe my own eyes.” The rest of the room murmured their agreement. 

******

Meanwhile, down the street, “You can put me down, you dolt!” Marinette hissed at Adrien.

“I assure you that I have no intention of putting you down unless it is on a couch, alone in a room, so that I may make up for the last three years of idiocy and blindness on my part for not noticing that my best friend and the love of my life were the same person, and that she actually returned my feelings, albeit to my civilian self, but still!” Adrien gushed.

“Marinette groaned, “Addrriieennn. Please don’t make me melt through your arms.” She shook her head, her hands covering her eyes.

They suddenly stopped and Adrien let her down, and led her into an alley next to them. Marinette peered at her surroundings, “This alley looks kinda sus, don’t you think?” She gave him a small smirk. He chuckled before he grabbed Marinette’s face in his hands and pulled it up to his, capturing her lips in his. 

He quickly pulled away, looking into her eyes, “You’ve no idea how hard it was having you kiss me in virtual reality. It was ten times worse than having kisses that I don’t remember in real life.” He bent down again, capturing her lips. 

But it was Marinette who pulled away this time, “We need to get out of this alley and somewhere less...public, Chaton. I know of a few secluded rooftops where nosy reporters can’t follow us.”

Adrien grinned wide, pulling Marinette further into the alley, “Oh yeah? Well I happen to know that a certain feline would love nothing more than to make out with his lady on the very tippy top of the Eiffel Tower, perhaps she might indulge him in a nerdy, fantasy upside down kiss?”

Marientte smiled as her face turned red again, “I think she can arrange something like that.”

The two transformed and took to the rooves, chasing and giggling like the teenagers they were, unaware of the tweaks Max was making to his game to give Marinette’s virtual character a debuff, maybe then it would give the rest of them a fighting chance. 


End file.
